This invention relates generally to waste disposing apparatus and more specifically to a grinder apparatus for destroying disposable hypodermic syringes, needles and the like.
It has become a practice among hospitals and physicians to use disposable medical devices, including hypodermic syringes with needles attached, scalpels, razors, medication bottles, suture needles, and other disposable materials. Numerous laws and regulations presently exist which require the destruction of contaminated medical articles generated from hospital operating, labor and delivery rooms and general patient care areas. Numerous devices have been proposed for destroying such tiems. Known U.S. patents relating to destructive devices are as follows: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,630,458; 3,750,966; 3,926,379; 3,929,295; 3,958,785.
Contaminated disposable materials must be destroyed in a safe manner, so as to avoid infections from the waste materials and to avoid injury to workers utilizing the destructive device. It is the object of the present invention to provide a device which will readily destroy contaminated disposable materials by rendering them completely unusable. It is a further object to provide a device which will be safe for employees to use and minimize the amount of handling of contaminated materials by employees. It is a further object of the invention to provide a device that will destroy contaminated materials of varying sizes without any additional handling or sorting by employees to avoid the risk of infection or injury to employees.